Grilling meats and other foods is becoming increasingly popular and is associated with a wide range of activities, such as family meals, barbecues, picnics and tailgating activities. Although there are a number of different types of grills, including charcoal grills, these grills can suffer from a number of limitations. Charcoal grills generally have a lower body portion in which charcoal is arranged to cook food on a grate or rack above charcoal briquettes. Such grills also generally come with a solid dome-shaped lid that completely covers the cooking surface of the grill during operation. Although such grills are still popular, users may experience a number of difficulties with existing grill systems including difficulty in visualizing food being cooked, difficulty in uniformly cooking food, flare-ups, and cumbersome lids.